The column is awash in details about the place, from the chef (RN74 vetJason Berthold) and the designer (Aidlin Darling) to Lee’s impetus for plotting a modern bistro and the twist of Parisian fate and randomness that sparked the quirky name.

“It’s going to be a modern bistro,” says Lee. “It’s going to be about having a large menu where you find those few things that you like and you can rely on those dishes.”

“It will have a late night component, drawing on the things I was looking for when I moved here.”

Monsieur Benjamin won’t be haute cuisine in a bistro environment though, like The Elm in New York or say, Rich Table and Alta CA in San Francisco. Rather, it will be a modern interpretation of the French bistro — and all that goes into a bistro, like ambiance, a casual neighborhood vibe, those culinary benchmarks updated to 21st century Bay Area sensibilities, and of course, late nights.

Not only is a modern bistro the kind of restaurant Lee wants to see in San Francisco as a diner, but it also has implications for him, as a classically trained chef.

“You spend your career cooking a French style of food, and I wanted to stay connected to that,” he says.

The restaurant will house about 95 in its dining room and bar, with another 16 seats outside. It’s due in spring 2014, and will almost certainly resonate on the national radar.

Oh, and now that Monsieur Benjamin is out in the open, here are a few more teasers from the world of Corey Lee: He’s also in the early stages of conceptualizing a Korean barbecue restaurant (no name or possible location yet) and is in the throes of working on a book with Phaidon.